


Five Times Marco Wanted a Soulmark

by nightwalker



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:42:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22624996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightwalker/pseuds/nightwalker
Summary: ...and one time the universe did its damn job and gave him one
Relationships: Jake Berenson/Marco (Animorphs)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	Five Times Marco Wanted a Soulmark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amaronith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaronith/gifts).



Jake is born with the name "Marco" written in sloppy print along the line of his collarbone. Marco is born with no mark at all.

* * *

He’s four years old the first time Jake writes his name on Marco’s skin in marker. It’s fire engine red and the letters are huge. Marco still has the picture his mother took of him and Jake sitting on the floor surrounded by crayons and markers and coloring books. Jake has marker all over his hands and is grinning at the camera, the red marker still clutched in one hand. Marco is staring down at the (misspelled) name on his chest. 

Eva laughs, but their parents scold Jake anyway and tell him that soulmarks are important, that they shouldn’t pretend like that.

Days later, the marker has finally washed off. This time, they wait till no one is looking.

* * *

He’s nine the first time they fight - a real fight, not some stupid argument. Marco doesn’t even remember what started it but it gets ugly fast, or as ugly as stupid kids can get. There’s a lot of yelling and shoving and Jake says “I don’t even know why I like you!” and Marco says “Because I’m your soulmate, you jerk” and Jake backs off fast, so fast that the sudden silence throws Marco more off balance than another shove would have.

“Yeah, you are,” Jake says. “But I’m not yours.”

They don’t talk for ten days, which feels like forever. Jake’s absence starts to feel like itching powder. Like ants under his skin. Like loneliness, something he’s never known before.

When he finds the bracelet at the mall it feels like a sign. Some stupid leather thong with different colored beads on it that spell out the name “Jacob”. It’s cheap, and stupid. Marco uses up his entire allowance to buy it while his mother isn’t looking.

He wears it tied tight around his wrist, tucked under the sleeve of his shirt, when he apologizes to Jake and asks to be friends again.

“Don’t be dumb,” Jake says, while his brother rolls his eyes and makes puking gestures behind his back. “We’re always friends, Marco.”

Tom notices the bracelet later that night and calls Marco “Jake’s girlfriend” for two weeks straight. Jake rolls his eyes but every morning when they meet to walk to school, he looks for the bracelet and smiles.

* * *

He’s twelve when his mom dies.

His dad doesn’t say anything for a long, long time. He just sits there, with his hand pressed against the back of his neck, where Eva’s name is written. His parents urge him to eat, to talk, to sleep and he does none of it. Marco, capable of speech and feeding himself, falls to the side and ends up in the treehouse out back, curled up in a little ball so no one can hear him cry.

Jake is there at some point. Maybe summoned by Marco’s grandmother, or whatever magic soulmates have. He tugs Marco’s head onto his lap and pats his shoulder and doesn’t ask any questions. 

Marco wants soulmate magic. He wants to know what that feels like because then maybe he could make his dad talk, make him look at Marco and realize he’s in the room again.

He wants soulmate magic because he wants to belong to Jake the way Jake belongs to him. He wants to belong to someone because his mother is dead and his dad has checked out and he doesn’t know what to do any more.

They stay there for a long, long time, until it gets dark and then a little longer. Jake doesn’t say anything, just stays and waits.

Marco curls into himself, arms crossed over his chest against the cold, and pretends that when he opens his eyes, there will be a name on his skin.

* * *

He’s fourteen when the Controller in the Hork-Bajir host laughs when they see the mark on Jake’s skin. “I’ll give you one to match,” they say, right as they dig their talons into Marco’s skin. It’s Jake who screams in fury when the blood starts dripping down Marco’s chest, while Marco just clenches his teeth and meets the Controller’s gaze without blinking.

Later, much later, Marco raises his hand to touch the letters carved into his skin, but he’s morphed a dozen times since and Jake’s name is gone as if it was never there.

He doesn’t let himself regret it. It wasn’t like it was real anyway.

* * *

He’s sixteen when Jake rubs his thumb over the skin over Marco’s collarbone, where Jake’s name would have been if they’d been soulmates. “I want,” he says and then his breath catches in his throat and he leans forward, bracing his hands on Marco’s shoulders as Marco thrusts up into him. 

“What?” Marco says. He digs his fingers into Jake’s hips and watches the way Jake shivers as Marco’s nails leave deep red marks in his skin. They’ll match the bruises on his thighs and the bite marks on his throat. They’ll match the soulmark on his collar. Jake is marked for him him, Marco branded into his body from the first day he drew breath. “What do you want?”

Jake leans down and kisses him, wet and deep and Marco almost loses track of what the rest of his body is doing. 

“I want my name on you,” Jake says without pulling away. 

“I don’t need it,” Marco says, helplessly, senselessly. Outside the valley is quiet, their families are safe, the war seems far away. “I was always going to chose you, it was always going to be you.” He let go of Jake’s hips to grab his head, pull him down into another kiss and didn’t let go till neither of them had any breath left. 

Later, Jake is curled up around him, Marco’s back against Jake’s chest, one of Jake’s legs hooked over his to hold him in place. Jake’s fingers trace letters over Marco’s heart over and over.

Marco imagines Jake’s name pressed into his skin by sheer repetition and falls asleep with Jake’s heart beating against his back.

* * *

He’s nineteen when Jake turns to him and asks, “What was it you told me?” 

The bridge feels still and silent, everyone waiting for the order they know he’ll give. Marco lets himself smile. “I’ve said a lot of things.”

Jake’s eyes are bluer than they’ve ever been. “You told me to trust my instincts. No matter how crazy, reckless and ruthless.“ 

He rests his hand over Marco’s collarbone. Beneath his touch, Marco can feel the white-hot heat as the letters of Jake’s name brand themselves into his skin.

The universe has a damned funny sense of timing.

Jake smiles. He looks dangerous and wild. Reckless. He looks like Rachel. He looks powerful and beautiful and sad.

“All emergency power to engines. Ram the Blade ship.”


End file.
